Today, the UN countries will vote for five new non-permanent members of its Security Council for the next two years.

Ukraine is one of the five candidates and very likely to take the seat, Associated Press reports, Censor.NET informs citing АВС News.

Diplomats expect no surprises in Thursday's elections for new members of the Security Council. This year's election is uncontested - five candidates for five seats as non-permanent members.The only requirement for the candidates - Ukraine, Egypt, Japan, Senegal and Uruguay - is that they win approval from two-thirds of the 193 U.N. member states.

"There will almost certainly be some fireworks when Ukraine joins the U.N.'s most powerful body, where arch opponent Russia has a permanent seat," AP comments.

Russia has been quietly campaigning against Ukraine, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private, AP reports.

On his part, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said he was "optimistic" about the vote. During his New York meeting with U.N. ambassadors and the media, he let know that relations with Russia will be anything but conciliatory following its annexation of Crimea and its military and political interference in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

"For the first time, we have an absolutely unique and unimaginable situation ... that a permanent member of the Security Council is an aggressor in Ukraine, waging a hybrid war against Ukraine," the minister commented.

The five countries will join the council for two-year terms starting on Jan. 1.

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